HONOLULU — After a clean sweep of Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night, Hawaii volleyball coach Robyn Ah Mow laid out what she’d like to see in the remaining six Big West matches of the season.
UH did just about everything well in the 25-18, 25-18, 25-18 decision in front of 4,701 at SimpliFi Arena in an efficient hour and 31 minutes, but Ah Mow said there’s still much room for improvement from her first-place team as it now prepares to head to UC San Diego and UC Irvine next week.
“Everything,” she said to a question of what UH (16-6, 13-1 BWC), a winner of six straight, most needs to work on most over the next three weeks as the team pushes for a championship. “I would like to keep our serving tougher. Our serve and our pass usually is pretty decent. The focus. We’re going to make mistakes; nobody’s perfect. But if we’re missing one of the passes, a passing ball, dialing back in and (saying) ‘yes, I can pass another ball’ and just coming back after that.
“Assignments,” she continued. “Making sure we’re dialing in on where we’re blocking. Timing. Left and right hands on the blocks. And just offense. So, pretty much everything. Just dial it a little bit more. We still got some time. Can’t just snap our fingers and grow. But they’re definitely not the same team that started this in the beginning.”
The middles, after a quiet night Friday in a sweep of Long Beach State, set the tone Saturday with 15 kills (.500 hitting) and three solo stuffs from Amber Igiede, and eight kills (.615) without an error and three block assists from Tiffany Westerberg. Among the hitters, Riley Wagoner scored 10 kills, Braelyn Akana six and Caylen Alexander five as the team hit .353 to CSUF’s .121.
“We try to emphasize (the middles) every game, but it is what it is,” Ah Mow said. “Our middles are giving our wings … different options. Open options for our wing hitters. Keep it up.” She tapped Westerberg, sitting next to her at the post-game podium, on the back.
Fullerton (12-10, 6-8) had its most prolific hitter, Lyla Traylor, hit in the negative on 32 swings. Lolo Fonua was most effective with 11 kills and just one error.
The Titans provided the most resistance in Set 1, when they went up 12-8, only to see the Wahine rattle off eight straight points on libero Tayli Ikenaga’s serve.
CSUF had two local players in action, both out of Kamehameha. Libero Nadia Koanui had a match-high 13 digs and hitter Malie McClure had three kills, nine digs and a block.
“It’s nice to see them; I haven’t seen them since we played them at Fullerton,” said Akana, who played with McClure but did not overlap with Koanui at Kamehameha. “They made a lot of good plays. I know Malie and Nadia did good at digging.”
UC Santa Barbara, which hasn’t dropped a set since losing at UH on Oct. 22, remained a game back of the Wahine after a huge sweep victory over fellow contender Cal Poly on Saturday. The regular-season finale at UCSB on Nov. 25 is starting to loom large.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.